This invention relates to apparatus designed to pump fluids from separate sources, proportionally mix the fluids together, and dispense the resultant fluid to a specified location and, more particularly, to apparatus which is adapted to pump a concentrated liquid chemical from a remote location and pump it and water in predetermined proportions into a static mixing apparatus which includes means to dispense the resultant fluid to a remote location as desired.
In the automobile maintenance and repair industry, it is frequently necessary to dispense such liquids as antifreeze (an ethylene glycol solution) and windshield wash fluid (a methyl alcohol solution) into the automobile. Such liquids are typically available in either the one gallon container or fifty-five gallon drum size. The fifty-five gallon drum contains concentrated forms of the antifreeze and windshield wash fluid and is more economically attractive to large volume auto maintenance businesses than the one gallon container since it is both cheaper and easier to store. The product from the fifty-five gallon drum must be diluted with water to the appropriate concentration for use in an automobile. Present product/water mixing methods have included on-site manual mixing which not only tends to be inaccurate, but also allows product fumes to escape into the air, expose workers to the volatile product, and increase the occurance of accidental spills of the product which, of course, are all highly undesirable conditions. Another mixing method includes the use of a metallic reciprocating pump for pumping the product from the drum to a remote location where it may then be diluted with water. It has become evident that metallic reciprocating pumps are not compatible for use with liquids such as ethylene glycol and methyl alcohol and have resulted in frequent and costly pump repairs. Although plastic diaphragm pumps have been recently introduced in an attempt to overcome this problem, there still lacks effective apparatus which accurately and proportionally mixes concentrated product with water and dispenses the resultant liquid into a remotely located automobile while maintaining limited exposure of the worker to the concentrated product.
It is therefore a main object of the present invention to provide apparatus which proportionally mixes a liquid product in concentrated form with water in a closed system such that human exposure to the concentrated product is limited if not totally absent.
Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus which pumps concentrated product from conventional fifty-five gallon drums and mixes it with water to a predetermined and accurate concentration whereupon the diluted product may be dispensed at a remote location as desired.
Still another object of the invention is to provide such apparatus which includes components compatable for handling volatile products such as concentrated ethylene glycol and methyl alcohol, for example.
A further object of the present invention is to significantly limit the escape of noxious fumes of the concentrated product into the surrounding atmosphere.
Other objects will in part be obvious and in part appear hereinafter.